Ask Tim Walden how he got this job, and he'll tell you: "Well, the president begged me for two years to work here and I finally caved in," he laughs.

Apparently he made the right move. Tim has worked with Colonial Packaging as a sales representative for 14 years since, and is now the senior vice president where he is second in command. He promotes Colonial's products throughout the Southeast, working closely with the company's main client base, the poultry industry.

Before Colonial, Tim worked in banking. He says the biggest changes have been less bureacracy and more freedom to make individual decisions.

"The people we deal with -- they're the reason we're here. And I love meeting new people each place we go," he says.

Tim originally met the Colonial team through his wife, who is President Bill Kaneft's sister. "I'm very, very grateful I was given the opportunity to work here," he says. "I'll stay here until Bill gets rid of me, which will hopefully be never! I don't plan on leaving anytime."

I've got a 3-year-old car with 210,000 miles on it," says Beau, who says his love of road trips helped land him a career in sales.

Beau is a sales rep who says he "drives everywhere possible" with his job, meeting with customers across the Southeast and as far away as Ohio to talk to them about their packaging needs. He says the majority of his clients are food companies. "I like to think that I look good in a smock and a hair net, but it's just hard to do," he laughs.

Beau took some side streets before stopping at his position at Colonial. After attending Clemson, he almost applied for Harvard Law with the support of a former professor, but after much thought, joined the Colonial team and is now going on his sixth year.

"A big part of staying around here has been success. I've been pretty successful at this, gotten a lot of things out of it. When anybody finds something that they're not only good at but that they enjoy, it keeps them getting up in the morning and going after it," Beau says.


Stephan has known Colonial President Bill Kaneft since middle school, and he used to work at a bank where Colonial Packaging was a customer. Somewhere between all the banking visits from Colonial staff and his old friendship with Bill, Stephan decided to join the Colonial team in April 2004.

Now instead of serving Colonial the customer, he's serving Colonial's customers as a sales rep, visiting clients to find out how to get them the packaging they need. He likes working in sales because "you get to meet people and families from all over the Southeast."

As a father himself, Stephan says the best thing about working at Colonial is the family atmosphere. "This company treats customers just like we treat family, and that's because our business is our family," he says.


Sam Carraway joined the company in June 2008. But he's been a regular around the Kaneft household for years. In high school, Sam was behind the plate for many of Beau's pitches for the Wilson Hall baseball team. And Sam, Beau, and Stephen were on the football team. They even lived together for several years in college.

Sam graduated from Clemson and then worked for several years in his own family's dry cleaning business in Sumter. He moved to sales in 2005 when he joined Weather Shield, one of the nation's leading window and door manufacturers. He was good at his job and in 2006 was named Regional Salesperson of the Year.

Sam said he jumped at the opportunity to join Colonial where the emphasis on business doesn't preclude having a family life. "The opportunity to work with your best friends along with the flexibility and potential given at Colonial is an unmatched combination not available anywhere else in the world," he says.


Marshall is the newest member of the Colonial family, but he's no stranger to the company. He's the nephew of senior vice president Timothy Walden, and he started learning about the packaging industry while working in the Colonial warehouse for three summers during his high school years.

He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2007 and worked for awhile in the banking industry before joining Colonial in sales in 2010.

Currently, Marshall covers the southeast but says he's willing to go anywhere it takes to get new business. He works primarily with the food industry.

Cary is the youngest member of the Kaneft clan and calls on customers in the Columbia area with her father, Jack Kaneft Jr.

At her brother Bill's urging, she came to Colonial in 1990 after she graduated from college and has been a mainstay at the company ever since.

"I go out several times a month with my dad, Jack Jr., and I feel very blessed to be able to work with so many members of my family," she says.

Jack was the first to jump on board when his brother, Colonial founder Bill Kaneft, said he had an idea for a bag company. He's been at Colonial for most of its history and says he's always had an interest in this type of industry.

As a sales representative, he works with customers, quotes products they're interested in, and generally figures out how Colonial can supply clients with what they're looking for.

He says that Colonial is primarily a multi-line distributor, but that it's now carrying items produced abroad and, as a result, can be very competitive. He works to show customers all their options, including items from overseas when relevant. He makes sure customers know that Colonial understands timely delivery, as well product quality and testing.

"It's just a really good company. I love this type of business, and I love that Colonial is a family business," Jack says.